The Oil Hegemonic System and Game Theory: Regional versus Trans-regional Powers in the Middle East

Saikou Kawsu Gassama, Mansoureh Ebrahimi and Kamaruzaman Bin Yusoff

Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 2020, vol. 7, issue 3, 358-376

Abstract: Despite having the largest reserves and forecasts for undiscovered hydrocarbon energy resources in the world, which highlights global energy dependence on the Middle East, a distinct lack of cooperation between regional governments is accompanied by incoherent energy policies and governmental processes that enable trans-regional powers (mainly, Western powers) to dominate resource exploitation and “win the game.†A lack of cooperation between Middle Eastern oil producing countries as well as attendant competition and rivalry allows significant leverage for Western powers to pit one Middle Eastern country against another; thus, permitting Western energy hegemony in the region. Using game theory and a qualitative analytical approach, the authors posit that trans-regional powers, to their advantage, have hegemonic control over regional Middle Eastern powers that maintain the pace of energy production to supply growing demands for predominantly western consumption. The Middle East countries will continue to lose the “game,†especially Iran and Saudi Arabia, if they do not reconcile differences and exploit options for regional cooperation. Such a modification in relations would allow coherent policies and governmental structures to institutionalize and reverse the current trend for extrinsic hegemony.

Keywords: Oil hegemonic system; game theory; regional powers; trans-regional powers; Middle East (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2347798920921981 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:crmide:v:7:y:2020:i:3:p:358-376

DOI: 10.1177/2347798920921981

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Contemporary Review of the Middle East
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().